The Greatest 50 Hip-hop Albums Ever - #15...

[Twentytwofifty]

Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990) 


    Ice Cube is one of hip-hop's most recognizable faces, but these days it has more to do with movies like "Barbershop" and "Are We There Yet?" than it does his rap records.  Before Ice Cube was Hollywood's urban hero, his reputation as the "the nigga ya love to hate" was already cemented by his pivotal role in the rap group N.W.A.  The fact he was the ghostwriter behind Dr. Dre and Eazy-E's raps was hip-hop's least well kept secret; that aside, it was when he spit his own writtens that he shined the brightest.  Ask N.W.A fans what they remember best about the album and you'll undoubtedly hear a recitation of one of his verses, from the gruff "Fuck Tha Police" to the verbally dexterous "Parental Discretion Iz Advised" to the simple yet powerfully evocative "Gangsta, Gangsta," a narrative rap that firmly established him as the group's leader with just one line: "To a kid lookin up to me, life ain't nothin but bitches and money."

    Blunt honesty was Ice Cube's calling card, but shady dealings were the calling cards of Ruthless Records' Eazy-E and Jerry Heller.  The tales of how Cube was exploited are damn near urban legend; some suggesting his entire payment for writing and performances on Straight Outta Compton was little more than a new car, while the label pocketed millions upon millions in profits.  Whatever the arrangement was, Cube clearly realized he was a rap superstar not being given a star's treatment.  As the first to defect from N.W.A he had two guillotines hanging over his head: one ready to slice him if the lyrics weren't up to par with his previous product in the group, the other ready to dice him for anything less than the funky beats provided by music maestros Dr. Dre and DJ Yella.  His answer to the critics on the latter was somewhat shocking: Sir Jinx from his own production crew The Lench Mob shared dutied throughout Cube's debut LP with Public Enemy's infamous beat posse The Bomb Squad.  It was unheard of in 1990 - a West coast, L.A. rapper flowing over East coast beats.
 
    If that statement alone didn't wake people up, Cube wasn't going to take any chances that the point would be missed.  The album's first full length song, "The Nigga Ya Love To Hate" portrayed him as a destabilizing force so dangerous that he had earned the singular ire of the entire populace.  True or not, he was not going to let that stop him from saying what he wanted, when he wanted:

They try to keep me from runnin up
I never tell you to get down, it's all about comin up
So what they do, go and ban the AK?
My shit wasn't registered any-fuckin-way
So you better duck away run and hide out
When I'm rollin real slow and the lights out
Cause I'm about, to fuck up the program
Shootin out the window of a drop-top Brougham
When I'm shootin let's see who drop
The police, the media, and suckers that went pop
And motherfuckers that say they too black
Put 'em overseas they be beggin to come back
They say we promote gangs and drugs
You wanna sweep a nigga like me up under the rug
Kickin shit called street knowledge
Why more niggaz in the pen than in college?
Because of that line I might be your cellmate
That's from the nigga ya love to hate!

    Cube correctly surmises that yellow-bellied journalists blame him and his fellow hardcore rappers for "promoting gangs and drugs" while failing to note that his real danger to AmeriKKKa was his willingness to question why more prisons are built than schools.  To the hip-hop listener with a fine tuned ear for lyrics, Cube's choice of the Bomb Squad on beats suddenly made perfect sense as a way to emphasize his political views the same way they did for Chuck D in P.E.  To further emphasize this link, Cube and Chuck shared the spotlight on the song "Endangered Species" in a rap about the nationwide decimation of black men.

    Not every song on the album has a subtext or social message.  "I'm Only Out For One Thing" featuring Flavor Flav is all about the joys of sex, "Rollin' Wit the Lench Mob" is a braggadocious ode to his crew with a sly diss to being too preachy in your raps ("Some rappers are heaven sent, but 'Self Destruction' don't pay the fuckin rent"), and "It's a Man's World" is a battle of the sexes where Yo-Yo makes her national debut by putting Cube is his place and effectively saying, "Hey it's a woman's world too!".  These songs balance out the more blunt offerings like "Turn Off the Radio," where a fed up Ice Cube recognizes that only happy non controversial pablum will ever get played in a national top ten.

    It's hard to really put into context just how revolutionary this album was.  Like Boogie Down Productions' By All Means Necessary, the album combined the hardest of hardcore MC's with dope beats while the messages offered hope against a corrupt system within a decaying social fabric.  To the hip-hop nation it was straight up truth, while conservatives blasted the violence and profanity and completely missed the point.  For the younger generation, black white and otherwise, it wasn't hard to get the message.  Even if they were turned on by Ice Cube's "Gangsta Gangsta" persona and "fuck you" attitude, they discovered that the fiery rapper was also breaking down hard facts in digestible and highly quotable chunks of hardcore rap.  The lyrics alone would be among the best Cube has written in his career, and the beats alone would be among the best Sir Jinx or The Bomb Squad has ever made, but the potency of the two together make AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted a watershed album.  On AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, a lucid Ice Cube quite effectively articulates just how bad things are in the America's inner cities — and how badly things need to change.


50. Dr. Dre – 2001 (1999)
49. Outkast – Southernplayalisticaddicmuzik (1994)
48. Jay-Z – Reasonable Doubt (1996)
47. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1990)
46. Redman – Whut? Thee Album (1992)
45. De La Soul - De La Soul Is Dead (1991)
44. Fugees – The Score (1996)
43. The D.O.C. – No One Can Do It Better (1989)
42. Common Sense - Resurrection (1994)
41. Makaveli - The Don Kiluminati: The 7 Day Theory (1996)
40. Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Planet (1990)
39. Ice Cube – Death Certificate (1992)
38. Gza/Genius - Liquid Swords (1995)
37. N.W.A – Efil4zaggin (1991)
36. Main Source – Breaking Atoms (1991)
35. Geto Boys – Grip It! On That Other Level (1989)
34. Brand Nubian – One For All (1990)
33. Scarface – The Diary (1994)
32. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – Road To The Riches (1989)
31. Beastie Boys – Licensed To Ill (1986)
30. Ultramagnetic MC's – Critical Beatdown (1988)
29. LL Cool J – Radio (1985)
28. 2Pac – All Eyez On Me (1996)
27. Mobb Deep – The Infamous… (1995)
26. Eric B. & Rakim – Follow The Leader (1988)
25. Big Daddy Kane – It’s A Big Daddy (1989)
24. Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth – Mecca And The Soul Brother (1992)
23. Black Moon – Enta Da Stage (1993)
22. Outkast – Aquemini (1998)
21. A Tribe Called Quest – People’s Instinctive Travels And The Paths Of Rhythm (1990)
20. Run-D.M.C. – Run-D.M.C. (1984)
19. Boogie Down Productions – By All Means Necessary (1988)
18. Raekwon – Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… (1995)
17. De La Soul – 3 Feet High And Rising (1989)
16. Snoop Doggy Dogg – Doggystyle (1993)
15. Ice Cube – AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted (1990)

[Twentytwofifty]

I'll make some comments here to make things easier for some of you:

Bullshit, this is top five easy.

Bullshit, this is top ten easy.

Death Certificate is a better album.


Just hit the quote button and edit it to keep the comment you want.

[Capo Di Tutti I Capi]

No I'm actually suprised that this album made it.. But I still think that there is better album's that are further down the list like: Infamous, Only Built 4 cuban linx, doggystyle, 7 day theory etc.

[eS El Duque]

Just hit the quote button and edit it to keep the comment you want.

[Javier]

words cant describe how I feel about this Album.  Its actually my personal best from the West coast.

[Woodrow]

Bullshit, this is top five easy.

IMO.

[The Watcher]

never really dug Ice Cube as a solo artist.. this album is in the right position

[West Coast Veteran]

Bullshit, this is top five easy.

Bullshit, this is top ten easy.

Death Certificate is a better album.

All of the above

[Elevz]

I'll make some comments here to make things easier for some of you:

Bullshit, this is top five easy.

Bullshit, this is top ten easy.

Death Certificate is a better album.


Just hit the quote button and edit it to keep the comment you want.

Bullshit, I was looking at the board index, saw you posted #15 up and I was THINKING "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted". I was actually just listening to this album 10 minutes ago (matter of fact, I'm still listening to it). Another great pick, well ranked too. Not overrated, not underrated. Simply a great album. Death Certificate a better album? I don't know, they're pretty much equal to me. Bullshit, this is top 15 easy

[Woodrow]

Bullshit, I was looking at the board index, saw you posted #15 up and I was THINKING "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted". I was actually just listening to this album 10 minutes ago (matter of fact, I'm still listening to it). Another great pick, well ranked too. Not overrated, not underrated. Simply a great album. Death Certificate a better album? I don't know, they're pretty much equal to me. Bullshit, this is top 15 easy

Plain and simple: Your opinion is wrong...

IMO this shoulda been at least top 10, but fuck it, I'm not doing the list...

[Elevz]

Bullshit, I was looking at the board index, saw you posted #15 up and I was THINKING "AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted". I was actually just listening to this album 10 minutes ago (matter of fact, I'm still listening to it). Another great pick, well ranked too. Not overrated, not underrated. Simply a great album. Death Certificate a better album? I don't know, they're pretty much equal to me. Bullshit, this is top 15 easy

Plain and simple: Your opinion is wrong...

Explain this. How can an opinion be wrong? At first, I was even thinking this album might not even have made the list since Death Certificate wasn't in the top 40. Then again, ain't no denying this album's power. Had to be somewhere around the #15 spot, and here it is. Couldn't be ranked better, in my wrong opinion.

[makaveli11]

Bullshit, this is top five easy.

Bullshit, this is top ten easy.

Death Certificate is a better album.

All of the above

[Denial! Is Actively Joinin The Revolution]

this is wat im goin to take into work to listen to thanx! i woz thinkin of wat cd i wanted to listen to

keep up the good work knuckles!

[Timmeeeehh]

never really dug Ice Cube as a solo artist.. this album is in the right position

[Kill]

Plain and simple: Your opinion is wrong...

sorry, that statement is an insult to your own intelligence

IM wrong O it´s very well ranked